Los Angeles schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines earned more than $150,000 last year for serving on the board of an educational publisher that received more than $16 million in district contracts in the last five years, it was reported Friday.

Scholastic Inc. provides the main reading intervention curriculum for the Los Angeles Unified School District, a program that forms part of the company’s fast-growing educational technology business, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Cortines, 77, has disclosed his relationship with the New York-based company, and officials told The Times he has avoided any decisions on Scholastic contracts. His role, however, has generated criticism among former officials and current employees who say the corporate tie creates an appearance of impropriety.

“My objection is the perception it creates and the door it opens for others to do the same thing,” former Westchester-area school board member Marlene Canter, who sits on the city ethics commission and who said she admires Cortines, told The Times.

Board members never examined Cortines’ outside employment in the rush to elevate the respected educator from the district’s No. 2 position after a board majority suddenly decided to replace predecessor David Brewer in 2008, Canter told the newspaper.

No current board members expressed concerns.

“Ray has done all the proper things he has to do” in terms of disclosure, school board President Monica Garcia told The Times. “It’s never been something that’s been hidden. I don’t know what is interesting here.”

Echoing others, she added: “I never met a person with more integrity than Ray Cortines,” the Times reported.